Pedernal (Relative Pitch)
Susan Alcorn
Released November 2020
New York Times Best Jazz Albums of 2020
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m2AxEVWBMfLSoVZzfVesVhwNPqVoSYocc
About:
“Pedernal” opens with Alcorn’s graceful pedal steel line suggesting a dark, minor blues that’s joined in an undulating caress by Formanek’s lithe bass. Descending chords introduce the second section as the band steps into the gathering maelstrom, eventually resolving into a beatifically lyrical theme that seems to summon the abiding power of the iconic vista.
Track Listing:
1. Pedernal (Susan Alcorn) 05:47
2. Circular Ruins (Susan Alcorn) 09:48
3. R. U. R. (Susan Alcorn) 06:03
4. Night in Gdansk (Susan Alcorn) 13:03
5. Northeast Rising Sun (Susan Alcorn) 07:13
Personnel:
Susan Alcorn:
pedal steel guitar
Mark Feldman: violin
Michael Formanek: double bass
Mary Halvorson: guitar
Ryan Sawyer: drums
Recorded November 12, 2019, at The Bunker Studio, Brooklyn, NY
Review:
A well-regarded member of the improvising avant-garde, the pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn makes iconoclastic, ambientish music on an instrument that’s usually not heard on the stylistic fringe. It’s fitting that when she finally put together a combo of her own, it didn’t look like anyone else’s. “Pedernal” features Ms. Alcorn accompanied by Mark Feldman’s violin, Mary Halvorson’s guitar, Michael Formanek’s bass and Ryan Sawyer’s drums; across five original compositions, melody is liable to be traded between the stringed instruments, or to disappear completely into texture.
Giovanni Russonello (New York Times)
